Chivas hopes to end winless run vs. FCD

Chivas USA put an end to its seven-game losing skid on Saturday with a 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution.

Now the Goats will hope to claim their first league win since March 30 when
they take the pitch at FC Dallas for a Fourth of July contest on Thursday.

Saturday's draw with New England marked the club's first point under new head
coach Jose Luis Real, and Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy saw the result as a
sign of improvement despite conceding a late equalizer to Chad Barrett.

"I think you can see that in the first half we had a lot of the ball and we
were definitely creating more chances than them on goal," said Kennedy. "It
was a real building block. Now it's about putting not just 45 minutes of that
play together but 90.

"I'm pretty happy with the performance; obviously the result is heartbreaking
just because you give up a goal late in the game. The guys have to keep their
heads up because we have a big road trip coming up."

The club's trip to FC Dallas Stadium on Thursday will be the first of a three-
game homestand over a span of eight days. Chivas will follow its test against
Dallas with a trip to the East Coast where it will face the Montreal Impact
and the Philadelphia Union at the Stade Saputo and PPL Park, respectively.

With just 12 points from the season, the last-place Goats will need to improve
upon their 1-5-1 road record if they hope to reduce a nine-point gap between
themselves and the eighth-place San Jose Earthquakes.

Dallas, by comparison, is sitting pretty in the Western Conference with 30
points from 17 matches, trailing first-place Real Salt Lake by three points
while holding a game in hand.

The Frisco club once enjoyed a comfortable lead atop the Western Conference,
but a recent four-game winless streak, paired with Real Salt Lake's run of
five wins in its last six outings, has seen Schellas Hyndman's side drop out
of pole position.

"June wasn't a great month for us, but what June has done is it's shown our
best character," Hyndman told MLSsoccer.com.

Dallas has claimed three points over its current four-match run without a win,
but that total could have been fewer had it not been for a few last-gasp
equalizers.

After a draw with the Colorado Rapids and a loss to the Portland Timbers, FC
Dallas scored two goals in the final two minutes to earn a 2-2 draw with
Sporting Kansas City on June 22 and followed up the dramatic tie by salvaging
a point from a 2-2 draw with the Union on Saturday thanks to Blas Perez's goal
deep into second-half stoppage time.

If Chivas is able to build upon its first positive result since April 27, then
Dallas will need to display similar levels of character if it hopes to get
back into the win column on Thursday.